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Singer and the Sewing Machine
A Capitalist Romance
Book • 1977
“Singer and the Sewing Machine: A Capitalist Romance” is a historical and biographical study of Isaac Merritt Singer, the flamboyant entrepreneur who turned the sewing machine into a mass-produced consumer product and built one of the first great multinational corporations.
Ruth Brandon traces Singer’s life from his frontier beginnings in upstate New York through his theatrical ambitions, technical tinkering, and ruthless business dealings, showing how he helped shape 19th‑century industrial capitalism, consumer culture, and modern installment buying.
Alongside the business history, the book explores Singer’s scandal-filled private life—his several wives, many mistresses, and twenty‑four children—placing his personality and domestic arrangements against the backdrop of Victorian morals and the Machine Age.
Ruth Brandon traces Singer’s life from his frontier beginnings in upstate New York through his theatrical ambitions, technical tinkering, and ruthless business dealings, showing how he helped shape 19th‑century industrial capitalism, consumer culture, and modern installment buying.
Alongside the business history, the book explores Singer’s scandal-filled private life—his several wives, many mistresses, and twenty‑four children—placing his personality and domestic arrangements against the backdrop of Victorian morals and the Machine Age.
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Mentioned in 1 episodes
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Tim Harford
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Liar, Bigamist, Brute: How Isaac Singer Liberated Women
